Arabians and Dancing Swords.
By LatanyaDisclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the Mummy (damn) or Ardeth Bey and the Medjai (double damn). No insult for blonds intended… I'm one as well.
Chapter six: Playing the silly woman.
Tahirah reined the horse around and glanced back over the city. Beside her rode several of her grandfather's guards and she wasn't too sure if she wanted them to stay with her for too long. Patting Falcon's neck gently, she shook her head sadly, wondering where Ardeth was.
"Miss Alexander, do you think we should turn back to the city now?" Zahir asked her cautiously.
She pursed her lips and shook her head, "No, we ride out further. I want to familiarize myself with riding over the desert while I wait for a message."
The guard nodded peacefully, wondering if he should say that Ardeth wouldn't be likely to come back for her now. He was aware of what had happened between the Medjai chief and the granddaughter of Kareem Bahil. The group nudged their horses into a canter and headed further away from the city. To Tahirah's eyes, Falcon stood out against the horses used by the guards. Next to the black stallion she rode, the other horses were plain and ugly.
Humming to herself softly, she drew the veil closer around her face and kept her eyes peeled for any signs of danger. Because they were out in public, Tahirah had not worn her katana and wakizashi since it was unseemly for a woman to be seen armed. However, she hoped the guards would be enough to keep her safe if anything should go wrong.
Suddenly, several of the horses shied and Tahirah only just kept her grip on the reins when Falcon halted suddenly. She spoke in soothing tones to the horse while keeping an eye on the others. The guards were all alert and Zahir called to her to stand in the center of the circle they were forming around her.
"Zahir, do you think something is seriously wrong?" She asked in a worried tone. "Do you know what frightened the horses?"
He shook his head while continuing to search for any signs of danger with his eyes, "I do not know Miss Alexander if there is any danger nor do I know what scared the horses. Are you alright?"
"I am fine and so is Falcon."
One of the other guards was having some trouble getting his horse to calm down and Tahirah approached him from the side, speaking in soft tones to the horse. She reached over and laid her hands on the neck of the skittish mare while speaking to the guard.
The man nodded and pulled the mare into the circle easily when she departed form his side, "Thank you Miss Alexander."
Smiling at him, she murmured to Falcon and his ears flickered back and forth as if he was listening to her. "Good boy Falcon, your old master trained you well didn't he? Where is he Falcon? Where is Ardeth Bey?"
Falcon neighed loudly and a distance away there came an answer. Zahir glanced at Tahirah and wanted to curse her for riding out so far from the city with them. They would not make it back while there was still daylight… that was if they made it back at all. 'Damn foolish women especially that woman. She does not know what is good for her.' He thought, looking around at his men.
"Zahir, pass me one of your swords." She spoke to him in low tones. "I did not bring mine because we went out in public."
He grit his teeth and unsheathed one of his swords to pass to her, "Be careful not to hurt yourself Miss Alexander. This is not your play time."
Tahirah rolled her eyes at him, "Pah! Play time? Zahir, when I work through kata in the mornings, I am preparing myself for a fight. No one has beaten me in a fair fight yet and I don't intend to start losing anytime soon."
"And Ardeth Bey did not beat you in a fair fight?" He asked slyly.
"No he did not and when I find him, I intend to correct his assumption that he beat me in that little duel. That is, if he forgives me." Her smile faded and the glitter in her eyes disappeared.
The guard studied what he could see of her face and had to admit that the expression of despair in her normally clear blue eyes was heart wrenching, "He will speak to you even if he does not forgive. Honor will call him to do so but do not think that he will forgive you easily after what has happened."
"What was that?" Tahirah cried at the sound of something similar to gunshots.
Yelling out something in Arabic, Zahir made sure the guards were in a tight circle around their employer's granddaughter. If there were bandits about, the blond woman would be a mighty prize worth plenty on the slave market. Some rich sheik would buy her and she would never be free again.
Murmuring to Falcon, she readied herself for anything. Wishing she had disregarded protocol and brought her own weapons, Tahirah cocked her head to the side and waited. Around her, the guards did the same thing.
But none of them know what they were waiting and watching for.
The sound came again and the black stallion threw his head up, startled. It had come from closer this time and Tahirah exchanged looks with Zahir before working on calming her horse. Muttered curses came from the other guards and Zahir barked out another order.
Then there came the sound of horses galloping towards them and the sounds of gunshots being fired. Every one of them looked towards a sand hill, expecting to see bandits come charging towards them. They did… only; other black robed horsemen were chasing the bandits. Tahirah's guards started firing on the bandits, making sure not to aim at the horsemen chasing them.
However, the number of guards with Tahirah numbered at five and the bandits overtook them quickly. Without time to defend herself, the bandits surrounded Tahirah and one of them leapt over onto her horse and held a knife to her throat. Backing off, the guards turned to the black robed men for help.
"Oh what have we got here men?" The bandit holding the knife to Tahirah's throat laughed, pulling the veil away from her face. "A pretty western woman with gold hair! Wouldn't she fetch a pretty price?"
The black robed men surrounded the bandits with their weapons drawn and ready. The leader pulled his veil away from his face and studied the situation before speaking, "Let the woman go and we won't kill you this time."
Laughing even more, the bandit leader replied. "No, I don't think I will let her go. See, she'd be worth a lot and so long as I have her, you won't be killing me and my men Ardeth Bey. Do not think I am as stupid as you assume."
Tahirah's eyes met Ardeth's and she smiled. He nodded, catching on to her plan though he did not like it. Turning her body slightly, she looked at the bandit behind her pleadingly while saying; "Take me away from these me? They took me away from my home and I cannot get away. Please, I do not want to go back with them."
"Really?" The bandit asked thoughtfully, his dark eyes meeting the glittering blue ones of the woman. "And what would be in it for me if I helped you?"
"Well…" She smiled, reaching one arm around his waist, "I'm sure I could think of something that you would like from me."
He licked his lips and turned his head to the other bandits, "Men, I think we have a job to do."
There was barely even a heartbeat before Tahirah had pulled the bandit's second knife from his belt slit his throat with it. Pushing the dead body from her horse, the western woman readied herself for an attack. The death of the bandit was the signal Ardeth had been waiting for and with a shout; the Medjai attacked the remaining bandits. Flinging herself off the horse, Tahirah snatched up the scimitar Zahir had given her and the scimitar of the man she'd just killed. One of the bandits saw what she was doing and charged for her but with a swift move, the woman added another man's life to those that she had taken.
Ardeth watched her easily kill three bandits during the entire skirmish and smiled. He had never believed that the fancy sword fighting she did would be practical in battle but seeing her now changed his beliefs. "Zahir, go to her side now." He commanded the guard.
It took no longer than ten minutes to destroy the bandits and Tahirah was on the verge of fainting at the end. She had never seen so many men killed in one go and the nausea rising from her gut threatened to overwhelm her. Two of the guards supported her while a third held the reins to Falcon. Her head was hanging and taking a deep breath, Tahirah forced herself to stand straight and to meet Ardeth's questioning gaze.
"Tell me Zahir, what are you and only a handful of your men doing out here in the desert escorting the Lady Alexander? Surely Kareem Bahil would have sent more men than this if he had known where you were going." Ardeth spoke to Zahir in Arabic, turning away from Tahirah.
Bowing his head, Zahir replied, "He could spare no more guards than those of us who are with her for he had to go to a meeting and needed most of them. We did not expect to find ourselves this far out of the city nor still riding this late in the afternoon. The Lady was just about to turn back when our horses were startled by gunshots. The rest you should know."
Shaking his head, the Medjai chief turned away from Tahirah and signaled to his men to set up a camp. "You will not make it back to the city before nightfall and several of your men are hurt; therefore, you will be staying with us for the night and tomorrow we will escort you and the Lady Alexander back to Kareem Bahil with our profound apologies. Now tell me Zahir, why is she still in Egypt? It has been several months since I left Cairo and I fully expected her to have gone by now."
"I will say nothing here Ardeth Bey and if you want to find out why, you had best ask her. If you don't mind me asking, why were you chasing those bandits?" Zahir asked, ignoring the look that Ardeth gave him.
"They attacked us on one of our patrols then fled. We had found the remains of several men and horses at an oasis the day before they attacked us. I hope that who ever they had killed before were not important people."
An expression of worry appeared on Zahir's face, "Ardeth Bey, Kareem Bahil sent a group of men to find you after you left Cairo. They carried a letter of great importance. Did you ever get that letter?"
"No, I did not. How many men were sent?"
"Five in total."
"Then they were the men we found at the oasis. I am sorry Zahir, they were your men and no doubt your friends." He bowed his head in sorrow – an action which was copied by those around him. "What was the letter concerning?"
"That also, I do not know and you will find out by speaking to that woman over there whose life revolves around getting your forgiveness."
Ardeth looked startled and he replied, "There is nothing for my to forgive and everything for her to forgive. I should have known better than to press my attentions on a true western born Lady."
"Ha!" Zahir snorted, "You do not know what torments she has been putting herself through since you left. You do not know that she has kept herself out of sight and sound and has begun to behave like one would expect a woman to behave. Did you know that she's turned bitter and is beginning to believe that men only want beautiful wives, not intelligent ones?"
"That is her choice and has nothing to do with me." He snapped, glancing at Tahirah.
She caught his glance and bowed her head, trying not to meet his eye. Every now and again Tahirah caught a word of Arabic that she understood and she wondered what the two men spoke of that could not involve her. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her wits about her to confront Ardeth over what had happened. However, what she had planned to say and what she actually said were two different things.
"Zahir, we had best leave now if we wish to make it back to Cairo at a decent hour." She spoke in a loud but gentle voice.
Turning to her, Zahir shrugged, "Ardeth Bey has stated that it would be best if we enjoyed the hospitality of his camp this night because of various reasons that I am sure you can think of."
Tahirah raised an eyebrow, "I beg your pardon Zahir but since when did the Medjai chief start giving the orders around here?"
One of the Medjai came up to Ardeth and told him that a tent was ready for the woman. Nodding, Ardeth walked over to her and clapped a hand to her mouth, muttering to her, "Be quite you foolish woman."
When he picked her up, Tahirah squealed in shock but Ardeth ignored her protests and carried her over to the tent and dropped her down. Around them, the men were laughing at her though Kareem's guards did not find it funny.
"You had no right to do that Ardeth Bey!" She cried out. "How dare you manhandle me like that!"
He sighed, shaking his head, "You need to learn to be quite when you are told Lady Alexander. Perhaps you wouldn't find yourself in so much trouble if you did."
"Oooh you nasty man!" She hissed. "You are the only trouble in my life. I have waited and waited for an answer to my letter from you and when we finally do meet again, you treat me like a simpleton!"
"I never got your letter Miss Alexander and therefore, you never got a reply. As for my treating you like a simpleton? If you stopped behaving like a foolish woman, I would stop treating you like one. Do you understand me?" Ardeth stormed over to her and gripped her wrists in one hand and her chin in the other.
Her eyes went wide, "I understand you Mr Bey and I am sorry if I ever bothered you. All I wanted was to apologize for acting like a stupid and silly woman when we met and I had hoped you would forgive me. Obviously, you do not want to and I should stop wasting my time."
Ardeth smiled, "You wish for my forgiveness when I am the one who did the wrong thing? We are a strange pair indeed Miss Alexander."
"Strange? Not I, only you. In my mind, my heart, vous etes mon amour, ma vie (you are my love, my life) and I wish that it could be true in the real world as well. But it cannot be because we will never agree." She sighed, bowing her head as best she could with his hand holding her chin.
Tilting her head back up, the Medjai chief stared into Tahirah's eyes as if he were searching for something. "I don't know what to think Miss Alexander because I am not sure of what you were just speaking of."
Her lips curled at the edges, forming a smile. "I said that in my mind and my heart you are my love, my life."
"That is what I thought you said." He returned the smile and leant in to kiss her gently. "As you are mine. Never have you left my thoughts and I had believed that you had gone back to your home in New Zealand."
"I could not leave without knowing why you did not turn back when I called to you that day." Tears welled up in her eyes and Ardeth gently brushed them away.
Kissing her again, he let go of her and wrapped his arms around Tahirah's waist, "Please do not cry, you are too beautiful to be sad. I am here now and I will never leave unless you truly wish it."
Tahirah closed her eyes, fighting back the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. She did not know what to do.
